Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha is an organisation whose main goal is to improve

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

literacy among the non-Hindi speaking people of

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...

. The headquarters are located at Thanikachalam Road,

T. Nagar Thyagaraya Nagar, commonly known as T. Nagar, and historically known as East Mambalam, is a very affluent commercial and residential neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is surrounded by Nungambakkam in the North, Teynampet in the ...

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. The organisation was established by

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

, who became the founder president of the Sabha, who held the post till his death. The sabha was inaugurated by

Annie Besant Annie Besant ( Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was a British socialist, theosophist, freemason, women's rights activist, educationist, writer, orator, political party member and philanthropist. Regarded as a champion of human f ...

on 17 June 1918. In 1964, the institution was recognised by the

Indian Government The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the Government, national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy lo ...

as one of the

Institutes of National Importance Institute of National Importance (INI) is a status that may be conferred on a premier public higher education institution in India by an act of Parliament of India, an institution which "serves as a pivotal player in developing highly skilled per ...

History

The Hindi movement in South India was started in the year 1918 by Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi saw the need to unite the northern and southern states of the country in the greatest interest of integration of the nation, as Hindi was spoken by the largest section of the people of India. Therefore, he founded the Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha at Madras to propagate the study of Hindi in the then

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...

and princely states of

Banganapalle Banaganapalli is a town in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It lies in Nandyal district, 38 km west of the city of Nandyal. Banaganapalli is famous for its mangoes and has a cultivar, ''Banaganapalli'', named after it. Between 1790 and ...

Cochin Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

Pudukkottai Pudukkottai is the administrative headquarters of Pudukkottai District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a large city located on the banks of the Vellar River. It has been ruled, at different times, by the mutharaiyar dynasty , Cholas, ...

Sanduru Sanduru (often written Sandur) is a town in Bellary District in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the administrative seat of Sanduru taluka. Sandur was ruled by the Ghorpade royal family of the Marathas.The present scion of Sandur is Ajai ...

and

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...

. The Sabha was inaugurated by Annie Besant on 17 June 1918. The movement was inaugurated by the

under the presidency at Gokhale Hall in Madras. The first Hindi class was taken by Gandhi's son

Devdas Gandhi Devdas Mohandas Gandhi (22 May 1900 – 3 August 1957) was the fourth and youngest son of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He was born in the Colony of Natal and came to India with his parents as a grown man. He became active in his father's movem ...

. Hindi training schools were started in

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

and

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. The number of students increased from 80 in 1919 to hundreds of thousands in subsequent years. Today the movement can claim more than 7000 workers working in 6000 centres, covering the entire area of the five states, viz.

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

and

, with an area of 650,000 square kilometers with a population of about 120 million. By 1927, the Hindi Prachar Sabha emerged as an independent organization, and Mahatma Gandhi remained its president until his death in 1948. During the silver jubilee celebrations of the Sabha, Gandhi stayed for nearly 10 days on the Sabha's premises. Gandhiji desired that the ‘Hindi Prachar‘ in the south should be carried on by involving the local people of the respective area. Until 1920, this Sabha had its office at George Town in Madras and after some years shifted to

Mylapore Mylapore, also spelt Mayilapur, is a neighbourhood in the central part of the city of Chennai, India. It is one of the oldest residential parts of the city. It is also called Tirumayilai. The locality is claimed to be the birthplace of the cel ...

and then to

Triplicane Triplicane, known in the vernacular as Thiruvallikeni, is one of the oldest neighbourhoods of Chennai, India. It is situated on the Bay of Bengal coast and about from Fort St George. The average elevation of the neighbourhood is 14 metres ...

where it functioned till 1936. In 1936, the Sabha shifted to its present headquarters at

. Preliminary examinations were held regularly from 1922. The first degree-level examination ‘Rashtrabasha Visharad’ was conducted and convocation held in 1931, which was addressed by Kaka Kalelkar. The Sabha celebrated its silver jubilee in 1946 after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and Gandhiji presided over the celebrations. To commemorate his presence during the silver jubilee celebrations in the sabha and mark that historic occasion, it was decided to build a Gandhi Mantap at the celebration spot. Accordingly, a mantap was built and it was inaugurated in June 1963 by

Morarji Desai Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 to 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his ...

. A landmark in the recent history of the Sabha was the establishment of the National Hindi Research Library built at a cost of 8.5 million, with financial assistance from the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

. Another important landmark is the building of ‘Mahatma Gandhi Convocation Hall’ (Mahatma Gandhi Padavidan Mantap) exclusively for the use of holding the annual convocation and other functions of the Sabha.

Examinations

The examinations conducted are: * Parichaya * Prathamic * Madhyama * Rashtrabasha * Praveshika * Visharadh Poorvardh * Visharadh Uttarardh * Praveen Poorvardh * Praveen It also conducts examinations in typewriting and shorthand in Hindi.

Organisation

The Sabha is divided into four divisions, one each for the states of

and

. The organisation headquarters is at T. Nagar, Chennai. The four regional headquarters are at: * Andhra Pradesh and Telangana –

* Karnataka –

Dharwad Dharwad (), also known as Dharwar, is a city located in the north western part of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Dharwad district of Karnataka and forms a contiguous urban area with the city of Hubballi. It was merge ...

* Kerala –

Ernakulam Ernakulam () is the Central Business District of the city of Kochi in Kerala, India and has lent its name to the Ernakulam district. Many major establishments, including the Kerala High Court, the office of the Kochi Municipal Corporation a ...

* Tamil Nadu –

Tiruchirappalli Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bein ...

External links

Official website of the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha

References

{{Authority control Hindi-language education Language education in India Organisations based in Chennai Language advocacy organizations 1918 establishments in India Educational institutions established in 1918